Data processing system



Jan. 28, 1969 E, BERMAN ET AL DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM lllvv.

United States Patent O 3,424,582 DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM Elliot Berman, Braintree, and Carl F. W. Ekman, Bedford, Mass., assignors to Itek Corporation, Lexington, Mass., a corporation of Delaware Filed May 20, 1964, Ser. No. 368,885 U.S. Cl. 96-48 Int. Cl. G03c 5/40 7 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE The invention relates to systems, methods and apparatus for data storage. The invention more particularly relates to improvements and systems for processing photographic copy media of the type disclosed in commonly owned copending application Ser. No. 199,211 tiled May 14, 1962, now abandoned.

Commonly owned copending Berman et al. application Ser. No. 199,211 filed May 14, 1962, the details of which are incorporated herein by reference, discloses `a photographic imaging or copy media comprising photoconductive materials, i.e. materials having light activatable electrans, adaptable to use in the systems of the present invention. Exposure of such media to `an image pattern of activating radiation renders chemically reactive those portions of the photoconductor media which are struck by radiation. For example, according to the teachings of the copending application a filled or coated paper comprising a photoconductor such as titanium dioxide in exposed to an image pattern of radiation, and is then developed by simple contact with a developer system forming an image by redox reactions occurring at Iactivated chemically reactive portions of the photoconductor. For example, the exposed medium may be contacted with a solution containing ions of a metal such as copper, silver, mercury, and gold. The ions are reduced to free metal on contact with activated chemically reactive portions of the copy medium. Although exposures can be used which are suflicient to cause precipitation of such an amount of metal ion t-o free metal as will form a visible image in the copy medium, shorter exposure times can also be used. These result in the deposition of amounts of free metal which are insufficient to form visible images. Such latent developed images can be subsequently yamplified by contact with developer systems of a type known in the silver halide photographic arts, for example, such as those comprising silver ion in admixture with a reagent forming a redox system, such as hydroquinone. Developer systems of this type tend to deposit further free metal on a surface where free metal is already present, and can be used in the present invention to amplify a priorly formed latent developed image or can be used along in a single developing step to form a visible image directly.

In a copending application assigned to the common assignee of the instant application, Ser. No. 360,112, filed Apr. 15, 1964, there vare disclosed various developer systems useful in the instant data processing system. In one embodiment disclosed therein, a titanium dioxide coated paper after exposure is developed by contacting the sheet with a developer bath containing a source of ionic silver, in the form of silver nitrate to produce a latent developed image. The latent developed image is then brought into contact with an amplifying solution containing, for example, Phenidone which causes the image to be amplified and become visible. The exposed, developed and amplified prints are then stabilized or fixed as desired, and then washed. In order to achieve an economical processing system, it is desirable that the silver be put on the exposed sheet in controlled amounts to form the latent developed image. It has further been found that the presence of moist ionic silver on the surface of the sheet as it enters the amplifying solution tends to cause background discoloration in nonimage areas.

Accordingly, it is an :object of the present invention to provide an improved data processing system.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a data processing system that is economical in its operation.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a data processing system in which background discoloration of the copying medium is substantially reduced.

For a better understanding of the present invention, together with other and further objects thereof, reference is made to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing and its scope will be pointl ed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a data processing system embodying the invention.

In FIG. 1 the date storage medium is shown as an elongated web 10 stored on a supply spool 11. For the sake of simplicity in describing the inventive data processing system, details such as housings, drive motors, light baies, seals, etc. have been omitted.

The data storage medium 10 comprising a photoconductive material of the type described in copendng application Ser. No. 199,211, including materials such as Ge, BN, T102, Z110, ZI`O2, Geog, 11120'3, K2A16Si5022, 2H2O, SHO, Bi203, PbO, BeO, Sb205, SiOZ, BaTiO3, Ta205, TeO2, B203, ZnS, and SnS2, for example. Many of these compounds are photoconductive compounds of metals with non-metals of group VI A of the Periodic Table, for example metallic oxides and sulfides. The materials, suitably in the form of finely-divided water-insoluble particles, may be simply deposited on a substrate, as on a glass plate, or dispersed in a self-supporting material such as plastic foil for the fibrous web of a paper, or dispersed in a suitable binder and coated onto a substrate such as glass, wood, paper, metal, or other rigid or flexible insulating or conducting materials.

The data storage medium 10 in FIG. 1 is preferably a Ti02 coated paper. The medium 10 is guided from the supply spool 11 to a deactivating means 12 by means of rollers 13, 14 and 15. The deactivating means 12 shown in FIG. 1 includes a light-shielded, electric heating coil 16. Coil 16 is a source of infrared radiation which uniformly deactivates the photoconductive component of the data storage medium 10 rendering the medium uniformly receptive to activating radiation. Alternatively, a simple dark storage of the medium 10 will tend to deactivate any non-selectively activated portions thereof, but simultaneous use of infrared speeds deactivation. Still other deactivation techniques includes playing a corona discharge, as from a Tesla coil, onto the photoconductive medium.

After uniform deactivation in deactivation means 12, the image receptive medium is transported over roller 17 and into an exposure means 18. The exposure means, illustrated, includes a flash illuminated enlarging projector 19 as a source of activating radiation for enlarging or minifyng data to be recorded on medium 10 through appropriate optical means. When recording on an elongated web, as shown in FIG. 1, use of a flash illumination permits exposure to be made without stopping the motion of the web. After exposure the medium is guided over rollers 20, 21 and 22 into a developing station 30. From the developing station 30, the web passes through a drying station 35 into an amplifying station 45 to a fixing station 63 and Washing station 70. The solutions used in stations 30, 45, 63 and 70, respectively, are disclosed in a copendin'g application Ser. No. 360,112, tiled Apr. 15, 1964 assigned to the common assignee of the present application. Said copending application is hereby incorporated by reference.

Developing station 30 includes a container 31 having a source of metal ions therein. In the preferred embodiment the metallic ions are silver', and the source thereof is a solution of silver nitrate. The medium 10 is guided through the developing station 30 by rollers 23 and 25. Solution is applied to the activated portion of the medium by a roller 32 which coats liquid from tray 31 onto the activated surface of the medium 10. The rollers 23 and 25 are mounted in slots 24 and 26, respectively, to permit lvertical adjustment thereof for varying the amount of wrap of the medium 10 around the roller 32. By varying the wrap the time of Contact of the medium with the developing solution is varied although the linear speed of the medium through the system may remain constant. In addition, applying the developer solution to the image bearing surface provides economic use thereof.

From the developer station 30 the sheet passes into a drying station 35. The drying station includes a heated platen 36 which contacts the non-image surface of the sheet. Heating causes vaporization of moisture from the previously wetted surface. Moisture thus vaporized is vented to the atmosphere through a conduit 38 having an exhaust fan 37 coupled thereto. Upon leaving the dry ing station 35, the medium 10 passes over a roller 39 may be moved in the slot 40 in conjunction with the variation of rollers 23 and 25 in the developing station 30.

The amplifying station 45 includes a trough 46 containing an amplifying solution of the type disclosed in the aforementioned copending application. The amplifying solution is applied to the surface of the sheet by means of rollers 47 and 48. The medium is guided through the amplifying station by means of rollers 49, 50 and 51 mounted in slots 52, 53 and 54, respectively. The three rollers are adjustable in the slots to vary the amount of contact between the sheet and the applicator rollers 47 and 48. For example, if the roller 49 is in position 49 and roller 50 is in position 50', the path of the medium 10 would be as shown by the dash line B. That is, the amount of contact between the applicator roller 47 and medium 10 has been increased over that shown by the solid line. It may also be desirable to use only a single applicator roller if shorter contact time is desired. This is accomplished by raising the roller 51 to the position 51 whereby the sheet will travel along the path indicated by the dot-dash line C. That is, the medium will only be contacted by the first applicator roller 47. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that great flexibility in application variation is provided by the illustrated contiguration.

From the amplification station 45, the medium travels over roller 61 into a fixing station 63. Fixing station 63 includes a trough 64 and a guiding roller 65 which guides the medium 10 through the solution in the trough. The medium enters the station over roller 62, contacts roller 65 and emerges over roller 66. From the fixing station 63 the medium travels to a washing station 70 which includes a trough 71 and a guiding roller '72. The medium 10 enters the washing station over roller 67, is guided through trough 71 by roller 72 and emerges over a roller 73. From the washing station the medium passes through a dryer generally indicated at 70. The dryer may be a heated coil type as shown by the coil 75 or any other dryer known in the art. From the dryer, the medium, passes over roller through a pair of pinch rollers 76. The pinch rollers 76 provide the driving tension for moving the medium through the entire system. A cutting station is shown at 77, in the event it is desired to cut the medium, Where cut, the medium emerges from the system through the rollers 78 along the dash line D. In the alternative, it is often desirable to wind the processed medium onto a supply spool 83. This is accomplished by not energizing the cutting means 77 and having the work continue over rollers 78, 81 and 82 onto take-up spool 83.

In a modication of the invention, the supply of data storage medium 10 may be completely deactivated prior to its being placed in the system, thus eliminating the need for deactivating means 12. Further the invention need not be limited to a projection type exposure system but may also be used where other well known means of exposing the medium to an image pattern are used. Furthermore, the iixing station may be a stabilization station and the washing station eliminated if stabilized prints are desired.

While there has been described what is at present considered to be the preferred embodiment of this invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the invention, and it is, therefore, aimed in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a data storage system wherein a data storage medium, having a photoconductor itself sufficient as the photosensitive component of said medium, is exposed to a source of activating radiation modified by an image pattern and said exposed medium is contacted with a iirst solution comprising metallic ions which can be reduced at least as easily as ionic copper and said medium is then contacted with a second solution which comprises a reducing agent for said ions of said lirst solution, the improvement which comprises drying said medium after contact with said first solution and prior to contacting said medium with said second solution.

2. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said second solution comprises additional metallic ions and a reducing agent therefor.

3. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said second solution comprises silver ions and an organic reducing agent therefor.

4. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said metallic ions are silver ions.

5. The improvement of claim 4, wherein said silver ions are provided by a silver nitrate solution.

6. The process as set forth in claim 1 wherein said photoconductor comprises titanium dioxide.

7. The process as set forth in claim 1 wherein said photoconductor comprises zinc oxide.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,128,683 4/1964 Rubin 95-1.7 3,084,043 4/ 1963 Gundlach 96-1 3,117,884 1/1964 Greig 117-175 3,130,079 4/ 1964 Meister 118-637 NORMAN G. TORCHIN, Primary Examiner.

C. E. VAN HORN, Assistant Examiner. 

